One Second Can Change Everything
by sleepdreamer
Summary: Orignally written in 2006 following on from Gordon's Accident, everyone involved deals with the issues raised from the aftermath
1. Chapter 1

Jill and Meryl stood watching as the team freed Gordon from the car, Jeff had found a pulse and confirmed that Gordon was probably bleeding internally and needed to be got to the royal, Jill was now beginning to calm as the signs were becoming positive.

She rushed towards the ambulance as the stretcher was put into the ambulance, to her this was a bad dream that she desperately wanted  
to wake from  
'We will get him back to the royal as quickly as possible Jill' Jeff said as Meryl set up another bag of fluids  
'Alun, go on ahead, let Matron know what has happened, we should be there in about 5 minutes'  
'What do you want ready for your arrival'  
'Get theatre ready, find Mr Rose, tell him that Dr Ormerod has lost a lot of blood and may be bleeding internally'  
'I am so sorry my darling, sorry for being so horrible' Jill said tearfully as she picked up his hand as she sat down beside him.

Alun nearly knocked Matron to the ground as he ran into the building  
'What is the hurry?'  
'Sorry Matron, I have to get theatre ready and find Mr Rose, Dr Goodwin needs him to help in theatre, they are on the way in with the  
ambulance'  
'I thought Dr Weatherill went with Dr Goodwin'  
'She did but the car involved belong to Dr Ormerod'  
'Oh my goodness, you go to theatre, find Ken and send him to the ambulance bay, I will explain to Mr Rose'

Matron knocked on the door of Mr Rose's consulting room then entered without waiting for a response  
'I do hope this is important Matron, I have a golf match to get to'  
'Dr Weatherill and Dr Goodwin were called to a major road accident on  
the Whitby Road, Dr Goodwin has requested for you to be available to operate,  
their patient has lost a lot of blood and maybe bleeding internally'  
'I am sure Goodwin and Weatherill can manage between them, if not Gordon Ormerod can do it'  
'That's why you are needed Mr Rose, Dr Ormerod has been injured in the accident, that is the patient they want you to operate on'  
'Well that changes everything, the poor girl what a shock, is the ambulance here yet?'  
'Due any minute, Alun is preparing theatre'

'Dr Goodwin, give me your assessment, it maybe easier to go straight to theatre'  
'He has a compound fracture of his left tib and fib, possible compartment syndrome, circulation to the foot reduced and becoming worse'  
'Right, let's not waste anymore time, if we are not quick we may lose the foot' Mr Rose said as he looked at Gordon's leg and then at Jill 'Do not worry my dear, we will do all that we can, I take it that your husband is normally well'  
'Yes, do whatever is needed to keep him alive'  
'Come with me Dr Weatherill, I will get you a cup of tea and you can wait in my office'  
Matron put her arm around Jill as they wheeled Gordon into the hospital and Jill dissolved into tears 'It's ok my dear, let it all out'  
'I cant believe this is happening, why did we…'

'Good call Goodwin, any more delay and we could have had a doctor with one leg on the table, even worse Dr Weatherill may have ended the day a widow and she is far too young for that, right let's get this bone straight'  
There was a silence around the theatre as the staff carried on with their tasks, Mr Rose's words had hit a nerve with his colleagues, as most of their thoughts turned to Jill.

'Lizzie is on her way with the children, their schools were most understanding when I rang them'  
'Thank you Matron, is their any news from theatre?' Jill asked  
'I'm afraid not at the moment'  
'I just want to tell him that I am sorry…..we had a row yesterday'  
'About something silly no doubt'  
'Sort of, I keep replaying the last 24 hours in my head, we hardly said ten nice words to each other, if something happens to him I can't bear the thought that he died hating me'  
'Dr Ormerod does not hate you I am sure of that, he loves you very much. In all the years I have known him I have never seen him so happy, you were the missing piece he needed to make him complete'  
'Not quite' Jill remarked, rather embarrassed by Matron's words  
'Don't be embarrassed, it is lovely to see a couple so suited, his face lightens up straight away whenever your name is mentioned or you walk into a room' Matron notice the tears rolling down Jill's face  
'Sorry I did not mean to upset you'  
'It's fine, it's nice to hear, you never realise what you have until you face losing it, I hope that I am not about to find out the hard way'

There was a knock at the door as Lizzie entered the room with the children, who ran straight to Jill and hugged her, they had guessed that something had happened, that had been in this situation before  
'What's wrong Jill?' Katie asked, noticing the tears running down her step-mothers face  
'I need you and Tom to be very brave and strong, Daddy has had an accident in his car, he is having a operation on his leg as he hurt it badly'  
'Will he be ok?' Tom asked as he and Katie sat on Jill's knee  
'I do not know at the moment Tom'  
'If Daddy dies like Mummy did, what will happen to us?, you wont leave us will you?'  
Jill fought back her tears, Tom's words made her heart ache'I'm not going anywhere' she said as she hugged Katie and Tom tightly.


	2. Chapter 2

Jill watched Katie and Tom sleeping on the sofa in the nurses common room, Gordon had been out of theatre for 4 hours and they were now waiting for him to wake up. She kissed both of the children before sitting down herself, she was now beginning to feel tired but had promised the children that they could stay at the hospital overnight in case their father woke. Tom's words had made Jill confront her maternal instincts, despite how much she protested about only being their step-mother she realised that she was a huge influence in their lives and was more of a mother to them than she had ever thought she would be. She never thought that she would ever be in this position, having children clinging to her for reassurance.  
More importantly she had confronted the issue that had been causing her and Gordon so much conflict, having a child of their own, nearly losing him had given her an insight into his way of thinking, he had been in the situation that she had faced earlier that afternoon. Gordon had learnt, through Caroline's death, to live each moment, which was why having children was such an issue to him, even though they had  
only been married for a short was now confronted by the same feeling of urgency that Gordon had and all she wanted was for him to wake up so she could tell him how she felt.

Stella crouched down by a sleeping Jill, who was curled up with the children 'Dr Weatherill?'  
'What's happened?' Jill said was she woke with a start  
'It's ok, Dr Ormerod is asking for you'  
'He's awake?'  
'Yes he has been awake for about 5 minutes, I can stay with the children, give you some time together, just call me if you need me'  
'Thank you'  
Jill ran all the way back to Gordon's room and practically fell through the door in her hurry to see her husband

'Hello sweetheart' he smiled as she stood at the end of his bed with tears streaming down her face 'There is no need to cry, everything is going to be alright'  
'You would not believe the hell you have put me through, you have some serious spoiling to do when you get better' she smiled as she walked to his bed and hugged him tightly  
'I promise that once I am better I will spoil you rotten and I promise that I will never put you through anything like that again'  
'Well I do hope that the second is one you can keep, as for the first if you don't keep it you will be back in that bed with new injuries'  
'How are Katie and Tom?'  
'They are asleep in the nurses common room, they wanted to stay in case you woke up, they were worried that you would not, Tom even  
asked what would happen to them if you had died, like mummy had, he was worried that I would then leave them, I told them that I was not planning on going anywhere and that I loved them as much as you do' she sat down next to his bed, not letting go of his hand  
'Sorry' they said in unison and then laughed, they both knew what the other would be thinking, both deeply regretting the fact that they had fallen out, rather than discussing each others fears in a rational way  
'I did not mean to upset you'  
Jill put her finger to his lips to stop him saying anything, she wanted him to know how she was feeling before he said anything

'What was said does not matter anymore, I have sat here thinking about us, our family and taking the next step as a family'  
'The next step?'  
'I want us to have a child together and I would like to adopt Katie and Tom, to show them that they are as important to me as you are'  
'You do, but I thought'  
'Let me explain how I feel then you might be able to understand my change of heart, when I got to the accident and saw that it was  
your car I can honestly say that I have never been so scared in all my life, I thought that you were dead, I couldn't find your pulse, Jeff had to drag me away from you I was stood there thinking that if you died I would be left alone but at least I would have Katie and Tom to remind me of you, it made me realise a lot of things, realise that despite of my protests about becoming a mother I am already technically one, Tom's words made me confront that. I love my job but I love you and the children even more, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a housewife'  
'I don't want you to either, that is what I was trying to explain, I was going to suggest that if we were going to have a child that we could employ a nanny then you can carry on working how ever much you wanted to'

Jill sighed and kissed her husbands head 'Why couldn't we talk like this earlier, it's amazing how one random event can change your outlook on life, what you want from life and more importantly make you realise that you have everything that you could ever want right in front of your eyes'  
'I love you'  
'I love you too Gordon'  
'Why don't you go and wake Katie and Tom and go home and get some sleep, you look tired'  
'I don't want to leave you'  
'It's ok, everything is going to be alright, I am not going anywhere, you cannot get rid of me that easy'  
'I would not want too' she smiled

Jill tucked Tom's teddy under his blanket with him and sat on his bed watching him sleep, she wondered if he was aware of how much his innocent words had affected Jill, made her take stock of what she had and what was missing from her life. She now recognised that having a child with the man she loved was the perfect was to seal their relationship.  
Jill had just settled into bed when she heard the bedroom door open and footsteps come into the room  
'Jill can I sleep in bed with you, I had a dream that dad didn't wake up and it scared me'  
'Of course you can sweetheart, you know that dad will be ok once his leg is better'  
'I know'  
Katie climbed into the space where Gordon should be and snuggled up to Jill  
'I'm so glad that dad has you to make him happy, you are the best'  
'Thank you sweetie, that's nice of you to say that, why don't you go back to sleep, just wake me if you have anymore bad dreams'  
'I will do' Katie kissed Jill and turned over and went to sleep.

Jill had only been asleep for a few minutes before she felt a tap on her arm  
'Climb in next to Katie, try not to wake her up'  
'Thanks Jill' Tom got in by Katie and placed his teddy by his sister  
'Did you have a bad dream too?'  
'Yes, daddy will be alright won't he?'  
'Hopefully'  
'Good….Jill?'  
'Yes  
Tom?'  
'Can I call you mum?'

'Luckily Dr Goodwin made a good call, if we had been any slower you may have lost your foot, the circulation was beginning to become impaired, the break to your leg was not as bad as we originally thought, hopefully you should be up and about in a couple of days, with any luck home by next week'  
'Thank you for everything Mr Rose'  
'Well this place would fall apart without you Ormerod and you could not leave that wife of yours on her own with 2 kids'  
Gordon laughed at Mr Rose's comment as Jill, Katie and Tom came into the room  
'Arh Mrs Ormerod we were just talking about you, hopefully your husband should be mobile in a few days, then if all goes well we will be looking at sending him home'  
'Thank you for all you have done' Jill said as she kissed Mr Rose's cheek'We will never be able to repay you for what you have done for us, the children have made a card for you to say thank you'  
Tom handed Mr Rose a hand drawn card 'Thank you for fixing my dad's leg Sir, Jill and Katie cannot play football like dad'  
Mr Rose looked at Tom's handy work 'Well Thank you young man, I will leave you all to it, I have a rearranged golf match to play'

'We made you a card as well' Katie said as she sat on the bed as Mr Rose left the room 'Mum, I mean Jill helped us to make them'  
'Katie I thought I said that we would discuss this with your dad first'  
'Discuss what?' Gordon questioned as Tom sat on the other side of the bed  
'We want to call Jill mum, is that ok with you dad' Tom asked excitedly 'I asked Jill last night but she said we had to ask you first'  
'I am going to collect your Grandmother from the train station, once I come back I will take you both to school for the afternoon, be good for your dad'  
'We will' they replied in unison Jill smiled, kissed Gordon and left

'Why do you want to call Jill mum?'  
'Because we do' said Tom  
'It does not mean that we don't love our real mum any less but she's not here anymore and Jill does everything for us that a mum should do, she even let us sleep in your bed last night as we were upset' Katie added  
'Well as long as Jill does not mind, but I will have to talk to Grandad and explain things to him, we don't want to upset him'

'Hello Betty, how are you?'  
'All the better for seeing you' she hugged Jill 'How is he?'  
'Doing well, the children are at the hospital with him'  
'How are they coping'  
'Ok I think, they were a bit upset last night and had a few nightmares, they ended up in bed with me, I left them discussing a few things with Gordon'  
'Sounds interesting?'  
'They asked if they could start calling me mum, I told them that it was something that had to discuss with Gordon'

'Grandma' Tom and Katie exclaimed and ran over to her  
'Hello you two, I hope you haven't been tiring your dad out?'  
'No we haven't' Katie smiled  
'Do we have to go to school?'  
'Yes you do  
Tom'  
'But Mum…..'  
'Stop moaning Tom, will you still be here when we get back from school Grandma?'  
'Of course, how about I collect you and Tom from school' Betty smiled  
'Yeah, can we go for an ice cream'  
'Maybe Tom'

'I think it's a lovely idea, have you spoken to Henry?'  
'Not yet, Jill only raised the thought yesterday, Tom said something which made her think about a lot of things and me think too. If I had died the children could have been taken away from Jill'  
'I would not let that happen, Jill loves those children and they love her, them wanting to call her mum shows that'  
'I know but Henry would have been within his rights to take them to live with him, if the accident had not happened Jill and I would not have discussed it, at least if anything happens to one of us at least the children know where they stand'  
'But you are alive and I doubt you would be that unlucky again'  
'I know and hopefully nothing will but I love Jill so much, she has made me so happy and I don't think that I ever felt for Caroline what I feel for Jill, the only good thing that came out of my relationship with Caroline was the children, does that make me a bad person to regret the years I spent with Caroline when what I have with Jill is so right and natural?'  
'Only you can really answer that, are you sure that what you feeling is not some knee jerk reaction to the events of the past 24 hours'  
'No it's not, everything happens for a reason, this gives us a chance to take stock and do something positive as a family, if Jill adopts the children then it would show them that they are as important to her as she is to them and if Henry does not approve then that is his problem'


	3. Chapter 3

'Have you got everything?' Matron asked as Jill picked up Gordon's case  
'Yes I believe so' Gordon smiled 'I always knew that we had a fantastic team here giving the best quality care, can you let the staff know that there is a drink waiting for them all in the pub when I am back at work'  
'Will do, that is very kind of you'  
'The least I can do'  
'I hope you don't expect the same level of care when you get home'  
'My wife is such a caring woman' he smiled  
'I will refrain from commenting on that and leave you to argue the issue' Matron laughed and left the room  
'Come on let's go home, I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed'  
'Yes and the rest of the patients are looking forward to a peaceful night without having to hear you wake the dead with your snoring'  
'You cheeky woman, if I did not have a pair of crutches in my hands then I would…'  
'Promises, Promises Dr Ormerod, you really shouldn't start things that you cannot finish' she kissed his nose then his lips  
'Spoil sport, it's only my leg I injured as far as I know, if you want to give me a full medical then I wont be objecting'  
'That is a very tempting proposition, but we have a house full of people waiting for us, more importantly I don't want you overdoing things' she smiled at him 'Anyway you heard what Matron said, you need plenty of bed rest'  
'Who said I have to stay in bed all alone'  
'Will you behave or I may leave you here'

Gordon sat watching his family, he had not noticed until now how Jill's relationship had changed, how she would do things with them that even Caroline did not do. He smiled to himself as he visualised the scene of destruction in the kitchen one Saturday afternoon as Jill and the children made cakes and jam tarts for tea, they could be a terrible trio when they put their minds to it and would often gang up on him, he could not understand why he had not noticed their closeness before and how much of Jill's input was helping them to develop as individuals.

Thinking about his family made his mind drift to thinking about the future family that they were planning, he could picture what their child would look like, how Jill would take to things like a duck to water. The only issue which was causing Gordon any concerns was how Henry would react to their plans regarding Katie and Tom, they had began to look into the adoption process but had decided not to discuss the issue with Katie and Tom until Jill became pregnant.

'What you thinking about?' she asked as she sat on the arm of the chair and kissed the top of his head  
'Just stuff, you , the kids, everyday things'  
'You mean Henry'  
'In a way, I do not want him to feel as if we are trying to wipe Caroline's memory away'  
'Look how about when you feeling up to it we take the children down to see him, we could leave them with Henry for the weekend and book into a hotel on our own, we could have an extremely late honeymoon'  
'You have a very cunning brain Dr Weatherill'  
'I know, I am too clever for my own good sometimes'  
'Shall I tell you the one thing I am looking forward to now that I am back home'  
'What's that then'  
Curling up and going to sleep with you in my arms'  
'Flattery will get you everywhere doctor, if you are really lucky you may get as far as the kitchen, the children could do with a hand to lay the table' she raised her eyebrows, winked and left the room.  
Gordon smiled a contented smile to himself, he knew he was a lucky man to have Jill in his life and even luckier to have her as his wife.

Jill was sat at her desk surrounded by paperwork, trying to catch up with the work that was normally carried out by her husband as well as her own, it had been 4 months since Gordon's accident and hopefully life would return to normal when Gordon started back next week.  
Jill was looking forward to him returning as she had felt it strange working without him over the past few months, she had not previously been aware of how she would often seek out her husband for a friendly word or professional advice when she was having a bad day.  
She also missed the time they spent together each lunchtime it was often the only time they had to themselves, when they could be Mr and Mrs Ormerod without anyone else around.  
She was also looking forward to the weekend that they were going to spend together when the children were with Henry, but along with Gordon she was also concerned about how Henry would react to their plans.  
She was so caught up in her paperwork that she did not notice the door to her office open and someone creep up behind her, it was only when they spoke and she felt their breath against her neck did she realise that he was stood behind her.  
'What are you doing here'  
'I thought I would come and rescue you from that paperwork' he said as her hung his walking stick on her desk and scanned the papers in front of her 'And you should have been home an hour'  
'I am so sorry , I lost track of time'  
'Well I have packed the children's stuff and have spoke to Henry, he will meet us at the train station and take Tom and Katie, then we will meet up with them for dinner on Saturday night, that means we have the rest of today, all of tomorrow and most of Saturday to our selves, until the fireworks start'  
'It depends on what fireworks you are talking about Gordon, you promised me a weekend I would never forget!'  
'Well if you stay sat there for too much longer we will miss our train, it leaves in 2 hours and you have not packed yet'  
'How about I do you a deal, I will come home now if you will help me with all this on Monday'  
'Done, as long as you by me a candy floss tomorrow on the pier'  
Jill laughed at he husbands comment, it reminded her that despite everything they had been through, the warm sense of humour that helped her to fall in love with this man was still evident 'As long as you don't make yourself sick'

Gordon sat down on the bed and groaned in relief as he put his foot up on the bed as Jill looked around their hotel room  
'Is your foot hurting, you should have taken something before we got off the train'  
'No it's fine, it's just getting used to walking distances on it'  
'Just take it easy, I don't want you overdoing things' she kissed his cheek as she sat down next to him  
'I wont, Katie and Tom looked happy to see Henry'  
'Yes, I thought Tom was going to put his foot in it for a brief moment when he said goodbye to us'  
'Yeah I was a bit worried too, how about we get changed and go and find a restaurant before it is too late'  
'That is a brilliant idea'

Gordon came out of the bathroom and looked at his wife, she was wearing the lime green dress that she had worn to the hospital ball  
'You look even more beautiful in that dress now than you did that night at the hospital when I first saw you wearing that' he pulled her towards him and kissed her passionately.  
A few minutes later Jill pulled away from him and began to undo his tie  
'How about we skip dinner and stay here, we did say that this was a delayed honeymoon and we have got a baby to make'


End file.
